Why do we have habits?

I believe most habits develop because of repetition and this results in short cut paths within the brain. This means that unless there is a determined effort the habit is repeated.

Habits are beliefs we are convicted of on a very deep level, which we act out without thinking about them.  Sometimes habits are good, but often they are bad, and destructive.  Why do we engage in clearly self-destructive habits?  It is because we are governed not quite so much by a simple "survival-of-the-fittest", but by our desires -- among which the desire to survive is only one of many desires, and by no means the strongest!

If we are engaging in bad habits, it is because somewhere along the line we learned to trust the desire or the belief that made a given activity attractive to us, and worthy of our trust and our imitation of it. The reason why we cannot drop a habit even though we recognize it (now) to be bad for us, is because beliefs are by nature much stronger than mere thoughts.  Beliefs, like the habits they eventuate, are convictions we have that run sometimes very deep.

I am not an addictions counselor by any means (and if I mention addiction, of course this means more than mere stereotypes: addictions are just those habits which our conscious thoughts have decided are not healthy -- which is why it is essential, in my understanding, for addicts to admit to themselves that the addiction is indeed an addiction, and not a conviction worthy of belief), but I believe that one very good step to getting rid of a bad habit is to try and remember what attracted you to that habit in the first place, if you can, and to think about that, AND TALK ABOUT IT WITH OTHERS, and rework it and eventually the habit will loosen its hold on you.  

But talking about it with others (preferably others you think of as mature and having integrity - i.e. the right others) is something I think no one will disagree with. 

i will not repeat what has already been stated by others, but will add that habits, especially when they are bad habits, tend to be continued for usually "unseen" reasons. a secondary gain if you will. as an example. ms. d works in an office block. ms. d doesnt like her job very much and would like to work in a different department of the same company. ms. d smokes at work but not at home, and cant see why she does this. on questioning ms. d, it turns out that at work, ms. d has to go outside to smoke and furthermore has to be off of the property of the company. There is a little path that runs along the back of the offices where ms. d works and ms. d and the other smokers frequent this path to smoke. it takes about five minutes to smoke a single cigarette, and it takes a further five or six minutes to get back to her desk. she makes this trip six or seven times per day.

this scenario suggests that the reason that she has this habit of smoking at work and not at home is because she is doesnt like her job. the smoking is deemed a legitimate reason to leave her desk seven times per day thus allowing her to escape her work. and if she didnt smoke then the odds are stacked that the boss would not allow her to go out seven time per day for no apparent reason.

hope this helps.

It is some kind of protection against things (read: life) going into kaos.

Habit

Definition: HabitHabitNoun
1. An established custom; "it was their habit to dine at 7 every evening".
2. A pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition; "she had a habit twirling the ends of her hair"; "long use had hardened him to it".
3. A distinctive attire (as the costume of a religious order).
4. Excessive use of drugs.Verb
1. Put a habit on.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "habit" was first used: 12th century. (references)